Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-02-02
FOR THE SIGHTLESS.
BOOKS, MAPS AND WRITING AP-
PARATUS FOR BLIND PEOPLE.

A French Museum.What England Has
Accompiished-Ore of the Triumphs Of
Modern Educational work-Grest In
genuity Displayed.
museum for the blind has been opened
In the Rue de Rousselet. 1t has been es-
tablished by the blind DR.. Guilbcau, one
of the professors in the Institute des
Jeunes Aveugles, and contains specimens
of nearly all the objects invented for
long course of years for schools primary,
technical and others for sightless pupils.
Persons having blind relatives or friends
will on Tuesdays obtain any information
they may want about books, maps, writ
ing apparatus, teachers and SO on for their
special benefit. Not the least curious part
of the exhibition is what is contained in
the bookcase There is there n large col
lection of quarto volumes, all the principal
characters of which are raised on the
Braille system. This is now more in use
than any other in Italy, Prussia, Alsace
and the United States. 1t is said that 1t
has the merit of being very simple, but to
an unaccustomed eye it is as hard to make
out as shorthand.
ENGLISH BLIND ALPHABET.
| ferent, looking like the Ninevite inscrip-
ton. The letters, according to the Braille
system, are made like the French sign for
an acute accent, and are set in squares.
| The relative angles at which they are
| placed, one to another, give them alpha
betical meaning. Blindness is much more
| the scourge of the poor man than of the
| rich. If, therefore, charitable societies
| did not bring out books for the blind it
would be impossible for this unfortunate
| class to obtain them. Most of those in
the Braille type are for school classes.
/ There are already eight volumes OF Lit
| tres dictionary, some works of reference,
| La Fontaine's Fables, Boileau's Lutrin Sc
| Iections from the great French authors in
prose and verse and a Bible, which has
been printed by a society to further educa-
ton among the blind.
But the efforts made in this direction in
France are poor when compared with the
results won in England, although the
alphabet used there seems less easy to
learn and covers more space than the
Braille one In England there have been
as many as q hundred Thousand volumes
printed for sightless readers, including the
Bible, the "Pilgrim's Progress" Milton's
works and all Shakespeare's plays, but, as
DR.. Guilbeau says, these facts should not
discourage him and his fellow workers,
because the English speaking peoples form
the most reading nations Of the world, OF
at least the nations who give the most
business to the printer and publisher. An
encouraging fact is the existence in France
of three periodicals for the blind. One, Le
Louis Braille, is monthly, and costs three
francs q year. Its fortnightly edition
costs seven francs, and embraces a great
variety of topics which enter into the
J common range of journalism. Les Trois
Mondes is the second. It appears at Mar
settles, where the number of sightless per
sons is great, and there appears in the
same city weekly paper chiefly devoted
to musical topics 1t has circulation oi
about GOO, and 4S0 blind persons subscribe
to it.
HEARING AND TOUCH.
When sight goes in youth the sense OF
hearing becomes intensely acute, and
music Is a source of the deepest pleasure
The sense of touch acquires such deli
| cacy and power that the blind may bt
said not only to see with the tips Of theil
| fingers, but with their whole bodies
Those who recover sight are long tims
learning how to use their eyes. Accord
ing to Dr. .Guilbeau, who to-day was al
, the museum of the Rue de Rousseiet tt
give any explanations visitors NIGH
want, such persons often, when told t.
fetch objects which they have already seer
and learned the names Of, instinctivel,
shut their eyes and feel for them 4
variety of maps for the blind shown a
this museum display great ingenuity, ant
the cost prices Of them are low. Among
. them ere celestial aliases.
: / should not forget the various mean.
for enabling the blind to write and cor
t respond with each other and with person
r who see In the former case they use tn
: Braille characters and in the latter tn
3 ordinary Roman characters, but tn
pencil, with an agate or other hard point
t moves from right to left. Its course |
J marked by lines of strong thread stretches
4 on a piece of cloth, beneath which Their
is a sheet of paper. When the paper !
taken out and turned the words that hav
: been traced are in relief and to be rea'
r from left to right. The chess boards diffe
$ little from those used at sea by nava
officers. The playing cards have all tin
marks in relief on the inside corners
, which on being felt by blind player, en-
I ables him to understand his own han
: and know what his partner or opponen
J has played The sightless can thus pla
rubbers of whist with persons who ar
not sightless. Mercury.